Pilates exercises in brief

 Pilates is fitness exercising method of “Body and Mind” trend of body training. Pilates exercises like a meteor entered timetables of wellness clubs and are not going to leave their stand. During these exercises various complexes of physical exercises that combine the exercising methods from eastern and western cultures are done and influences of yoga and thai-chi are particularly obvious.

 A history of appearance of Pilates in short would be such. It was before the World War II that Joseph Pilates, a young man from Germany, being of poor health and wishing to become a little stronger, created a distinctive methodology of exercising and began to intensively train himself according to it. After some time he became a circus star and a horror of a fighting ring. Before the World War II he emigrated to America and by his methodology of exercising he got interested such dancing superstars as George Balanchine and Martha Graham. Joseph himself became a dancing star as well. In addition, being seventy years old, he posed to artists, amazing everyone with his youthful body. In essence, it is not anything completely new, but more an old Pilates exercising method that was rediscovered and a little modernized, adapted for modern rhythm of life.

 The essence of this method is the following. All exercises and way of doing them are invented so that deep muscles of body that are difficult to reach when, for example, exercising with machines would be trained more. During a simple classic fitness workout the biggest load is actually on the surface, strong muscles, while the weak muscles being deeper are not working that hard. Pilates exercises greatly differ from this. As I have already mentioned, these exercises are constructed so that the weak muscles would work and reach the level of the strong ones. These workouts are qualitatively different from workouts of classic fitness or aerobics. Here it will not be enough just to jump a little for a while or challenge weights while lying on the back. All movements are done plastically, evenly, with minimal number of repetitions, as here important is not the quantity of movements, but their quality. There is a purpose in instructor constantly reminding throughout the workout to concentrate, to think only about the particular movement being done. Overall, for those who are tired of jumping in aerobics or fitness sports machines, Pilates exercises will be comparable to gateway to heaven. But one should not think that everything will be easy and simple here. Having done only a few exercises you will feel muscles quiver with tension. It may be not the best method for burning fats, but flexibility of muscles, elasticity of ligaments and tone of muscles are guaranteed.

 Three trends of Pilates are distinguished:

          1. The main and the most popular is exercises done on the mat laid on the floor.
              Complexes of exercises are done when sitting or lying.
          2. Exercises with special tools: rings, weighted balls and large exercise balls.
          3. Exercises with special apparatuses, the base of fixing of which is not stable.

 Pilates exercises are very safe, they are even used for rehabilitation after certain traumas. Virtually all people of any physical condition who want to exercise can do that. On the other hand, you should not expect miracles – you will still have to sweat. This is essentially a “gentle” trend of fitness, for this reason it is liked by women and girls. It is a great method, and the workouts themselves give a new impulse to the body…

 Trainer, nutrition consultant Žygimantas Lapėnas, “Active Gym”, Vilnius.